The present Invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Echinacea plant, botanically known as Echinacea hybrida, and hereinafter referred to by the name ‘Sunset’.
The new Echinacea is a product of a planned breeding program conducted by the Inventor in Dahlonega, Ga. The objective of the breeding program is to develop new fragrant Echinacea cultivars with early flowering responses and unique ray floret coloration.
The new Echinacea originated from a cross-pollination made by the Inventor in July, 2002 of the Echinacea purpurea cultivar White Swan, not patented, as the female, or seed, parent with an unnamed selection of Echinacea purpurea×Echinacea paradoxa, not patented, as the male, or pollen, parent. The new Echinacea was discovered and selected as a single flowering plant by the Inventor in a controlled environment in Dahlonega, Ga. in June, 2003 from the resultant progeny of the stated cross-pollination. The new Echinacea was selected on the basis of its unique ray floret coloration.
Asexual reproduction of the new Echinacea by tissue culture was first conducted in Atlanta, Ga. in September, 2003. Since then, asexual reproduction by tissue culture has shown that the unique features of this new Echinacea are stable and reproduced true to type in successive generations.